Three disclaimers/confessions before I dig into this review:
1. I am a member of an organized Christian religion, and I firmly believe in the Holy Trinity, tenets of Christian faith, etc. Therefore, I am coming at this theologically from a place of familiarity with Christianity.
2. As a doctoral student in twentieth century American and British literature, I know my way around contemporary fiction. There is a certain kind of writing I enjoy. I like good writing, well-crafted prose. My favorite contemporary authors include Ishiguro, McEwan, Morrison, and Atwood. It’s hard for me to sometimes read popular fiction, because it just doesn’t stand up to the caliber of lit I tend to read.
3. Therefore, because of #2, I tend to be a snob when it comes to reading. If the book is on the New York Times bestseller list, I get suspicious, unless one of my lit peeps gives it a green light. I told you–snob. And even that is no guarantee. I genuinely hated Gone Girl. And Fifty Shades of Grey (although, anyone with good taste should hate it). See? Snobby snob snob.
Let’s talk about The Shack. I tend to eye Christian fiction somewhat suspiciously, since it tends to be more plot-driven than craft-driven. And you’ve seen my disclaimers. You know what a terrible snob I am. But someone in my book club picked it for our next book, so I thought, “Let’s give this a try. You need to expand your horizons.” I read it.
So…I’ll start with the plot. Mackenzie Allen Phillips is an average joe kind of man, with five kids and a devoted wife but a horrifying past: beaten by an alcoholic father, he runs away from home after poisoning the booze. Therefore, as an adult, while he considers himself to be a believer, he always bristles when his wife refers to God as “Papa.” Of course, all that changes when The Great Sadness hits. This is only the Introduction, mind you. The narrator, “Willie,” is going to write this story for us. We find out that a few years ago, Mack’s daughter Missy went missing on a camping trip, her bloodstained dress found in an abandoned shack, her only clue a ladybug pin that heralded other young girls’ abductions and presumed deaths. At the novel’s opening chapter, Mack goes to get the mail to find a postcard from “Papa,” inviting him back to The Shack for the weekend.
Mack decides to go without telling his wife or children and borrows Willie’s jeep to trek up to The Shack. This is where he meets the Holy Trinity and spends the weekend engaging in a series of philosophical debates with them about why bad things happen to good people, and why a loving God would allow such terrible things to happen. I won’t spoil the denouement for you, but it takes place swiftly and suddenly after many chapters of conversation and dialogue with theological components of faith.
From a theological standpoint, this novel (really, it should have been marketed as a parable or a philosophical dialogue, because that’s really what it is) conveys some interesting challenges to traditional notions of faith. By portraying the Godhead in separate and nontraditional ways, the reader must confront how he or she views and ultimately limits God. Is God who we think s/he is? No, and that’s the beauty of a divine Creator that we cannot fully comprehend. I believe the book does this best.
Where it falls apart for me, idea-wise, is in the discussion of Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. It felt very elementary to me. I appreciate what it was trying to do, but I felt slightly condescended to as a lifelong Christian. For where I am in my walk in life, it just didn’t have the appeal that it’s had for other readers. And I feel that it could have transcended itself to become more of a discussion about the nature of God–like the Book of Job. We tend to read it as a manifesto on Why Bad Things Happen to Good People, when really, it’s all about how we are unable to comprehend or contain the glory of our Creator. It’s breathtaking, particularly in the emphatic and poetic structure of God’s response. I’m disappointed that Mr. Young did not develop these ideas further.
Now, we need to talk about the writing. SWEET MERCY IT WAS SO BADLY WRITTEN. I wanted to take my stereotypical English Teacher Red Pen and mark all the cliches and bad metaphors and descripty things that did not move the plot forward whatsoever. For example: when describing the Holy Spirit’s movements and keeping up with her, the main character compares her to trying to keep up with his wife IN A MALL. It’s such a great comparison! Because women be shopping!
I also need to vent about the dialectic that Young used to “characterize” God. As I said earlier, I had no issue with God being depicted differently (in this case, an African-American woman, whom the character calls “Papa.” Totally cool with that). I do, however, have a major problem with God speaking Ebonics when the other characters speak perfect Standard English. I am more than happy to debate this point with you, but it feels, I don’t know…lazy? Poorly executed? It’s sort of like The Help, where the black women all spoke Ebonics in their narratives, whereas the Deep South white ladies all spoke perfect English (which was most certainly not the case). It just didn’t sit well with me, that’s what I am saying. Yes, I know, I am a snob.
And the plot itself sort of falls apart and collapses on itself only to remember that it’s a novel and gets resolved of a sort at the very end, through a breakneck last chapter. The pacing needed some major work.
Yes, I know this man is not a writer, and he’s honest about it. But he had people helping him edit the book for publication. Shame on them. As a novel, it certainly lacks the kind of craft that most novels have in some form or another.
Ultimately, I don’t know if I’d recommend this novel or not. I think it does some things well, but as a person who has read a lot, I would recommend a work by Anne Lamott or Madeleine L’Engle first.